Yikes, did not realize he is limping as a result of the infections. I would definitely soak his feet - even a lukewarm, salt water soak can help soothe the discomfort but the anti-bacterial soak will be better. No, an NSAID probably will not help but I would give him a little tramadol - poor dude sounds like he's having a really bad time

as far as this process of elimination diet, i am some what confused. i know i need to feed him something he's never had before, but what? raw salmon recipe?? salmon seems to be sticking out to me... as far as i can visually see, the fish oil has helped the appearance of his paws, the cuts inside just dont seem to get better. maybe because of his frequent walks on constant friction in between his toes...

id think i would want to start with salmon, and taste of the wild would be great if i could use it, but besides the salmon, doesn't it use other protein's as well?? i tried to get an ingredient list and from what i found it does contain chicken and a lot of other stuff as well... please correct me if i'm wrong. i just want to do this right this time...

His environment. What do you wash his bedding in? We wash everything in All (or Tide) Free and Clear because we all have allergies. Don't use fabric softener. Have you had your carpets cleaned? Did they use chemicals? Does he run outside? Has the grass been sprayed with anything?

Miss Peanut had a number of staph infections in the few weeks we had her on a different kibble and as soon as we switched her back to her old kibble she hasn't had them since. While she was on the 'bad' kibble we'd take her to the vet, get antibiotics, the infection would clear up only to reappear as soon as she ran out of antibiotics. We never did figure out what she was reacting to.

bluenose323 wrote:after a little more research i did find a specific ingredients list for taste of the wild's "pacific stream" formula, and it doesn't seem to have any other protein source other then salmon...

should i go buy a bag and start feeding this?? i can maybe get a wet formula to mix it with it that contains the same ingredients??

i would go with the Science Diet allergy food, while it isnt top quality food it is guarenteed not to contain any trace amounts of other allergens unlike every other food on the market. Ive found apple cider vinegar to be really helpful when dealing with allergy skin, for my girl with yeasty paws she gets a soak in the tub and for my bully when he is having issues he gets bathed in it.

bluenose323 wrote:after a little more research i did find a specific ingredients list for taste of the wild's "pacific stream" formula, and it doesn't seem to have any other protein source other then salmon...

should i go buy a bag and start feeding this?? i can maybe get a wet formula to mix it with it that contains the same ingredients??

i would go with the Science Diet allergy food, while it isnt top quality food it is guarenteed not to contain any trace amounts of other allergens unlike every other food on the market. Ive found apple cider vinegar to be really helpful when dealing with allergy skin, for my girl with yeasty paws she gets a soak in the tub and for my bully when he is having issues he gets bathed in it.

You bathe him in apple cider vinegar?? that sounds.. smelly. but hey, w.e works.

And as for the Science Diet, i did a quick search, there doesn't seem to be a allergy formula, im assuming it's just the regular science diet formula? i'm going to go to the pet store later today and run through some ingredient lists, ill be sure to check that one out.

His environment. What do you wash his bedding in? We wash everything in All (or Tide) Free and Clear because we all have allergies. Don't use fabric softener. Have you had your carpets cleaned? Did they use chemicals? Does he run outside? Has the grass been sprayed with anything?

His environment is definitely something to think about, except for almost a month he stayed at my brothers place, completely different surroundings, different bed, different everything. he had just stopped taking his anti-biotics and i was afraid something in my house was causing the irritation, so i took him there to see what would happen in a different surrounding. it's only a mile from my place and i went to see him everyday. sure enough, the paws got red and poofy again and i took him back in since that clearly wasn't solving my problems.

This has all been such a back and forth battle between different diets, and different vets... i'm sorry i didn't come here sooner. He goes back to the vet today for a bath and medicated soak for his paws. i'll be getting him the anti-biotics again, along with the topical soap's and spray's available. some tremadol for the pain, and then straight to the pet store for a new bag of food. they will also be doing the fecal test, and skin test to make sure he's alright.

His energy is there, he seems together, besides his paws and the limping i couldn't tell you there was anything physically wrong with him. i'm really hoping the test's come out negative. he has had 2 other skin tests in the last couple months leading up to this and they did come out negative, but the blood in the stool is something new and i'm a bit worried.

wish me and Dozer luck guys...

(oh and i want to post some pics of my boy when i get a chance. so you guys can at least put a face to the name you've all helped so much... i really appreciate everything guys, thanks again.)

i also need more diet suggestions.... the process of elimination diet can be a bit intimidating if you've never done it and your dogs health is on the line..

So far you guys have mentioned Taste of The Wild and Science Diet. Out of the two i like Taste of The Wild mainly because the salmon formula is something he has never had much experience with. it's a different protein i would pray he isn't allergic too, but i haven't looked at the Science Diet ingredient list. I will when i get to the pet store.

Also, do you bathe him at home or use a groomer? Either way, you may want to do the baths yourself with a shampoo for allergy dogs. Like said above, vinegar is your friend. I'll look and see what it is I use on curly. Can't remember off the top of my head, but I do put a splash of vinegar in her water daily, and occasionally put some on her skin. Coconut oil too!!! It works great!

bluenose323 wrote:after a little more research i did find a specific ingredients list for taste of the wild's "pacific stream" formula, and it doesn't seem to have any other protein source other then salmon...

should i go buy a bag and start feeding this?? i can maybe get a wet formula to mix it with it that contains the same ingredients??

i would go with the Science Diet allergy food, while it isnt top quality food it is guarenteed not to contain any trace amounts of other allergens unlike every other food on the market. Ive found apple cider vinegar to be really helpful when dealing with allergy skin, for my girl with yeasty paws she gets a soak in the tub and for my bully when he is having issues he gets bathed in it.

You bathe him in apple cider vinegar?? that sounds.. smelly. but hey, w.e works.

And as for the Science Diet, i did a quick search, there doesn't seem to be a allergy formula, im assuming it's just the regular science diet formula? i'm going to go to the pet store later today and run through some ingredient lists, ill be sure to check that one out.

i dillute it, leave it on for about 5 minutes then rinse it out well. As for the S/D you would want a prescription formula and would need to buy it through your vet. I believe it would be Z/D. TOTW is a good food, i feed it sometimes, but you cant guarentee that it wont contain trace amounts of allergens such as other protein sources. Natural Blanace has limited ingredient foods as well, but again you cant know if it will have trace amounts, so these foods arent the best for elimination diets. You could also try going raw and sticking to one meat source.

I do 1-2 table spoons of Apple cider vinegar to 1 cup of water for the bath. It's the same formula for if you were to use in on your own hair. It doesn't smell to me. Mostly because the water dilutes it.

Yeah, the amount depends on the coat/hair type, and how oily they/you get naturally. I use 1 TBL Sp to 1 cup water for myself, but 2 TBL Sp running over (so probably 3 if actually measured) to 1 cup of water for Curly.

Natural Balance is not my favorite brand, but they do have a number of limited ingredient diets with novel proteins, and they have a line of treats to match each of those diets. We've used them off and on over the years.

This is all why we switched to premium kibble and why we've been slowly making the switch to raw. Our girl's UTIs were costing us so much money, that I figured it would save us in the long run and I wouldn't have to give her as many pills.

We also give our allergy pup benadryl or claritin, which has usually helped. She gets horrible staph infections with pustules all over when she has a really bad reaction, like from a flea bite (yes ONE flea bite). She's been eating Taste of the Wild Sierra, but her allergies are flaring up terribly (and include brittle nails, which we're nursing now) even with the claritin so we're about to fully eliminate grains and see how it goes.

One other thing, I was recently told about coconut oil for allergies and other skin sensitivities-- I've started adding that to my girl's diet just yesterday. I'm hopeful.